


At Last

by RadScavver



Series: The Sole Survivor [11]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Cheese is only the beginning, Multi, Peace, Polyamory, Slice of Life, Soon all creatures at CC will be named, Synth Shaun renamed, possible pre-relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 09:36:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18407954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadScavver/pseuds/RadScavver
Summary: An ending?





	At Last

It’s the cursing that makes Nora look up from her work. She’s amused to see Deacon being dragged along by the ear, Rads having him in a firm grip. Seeing the agent bent so drastically as he stumbles behind her is enough to make Nora grin. James saunters past them, pausing to bend and plant a kiss to Rads cheek, with some beeping device in his hands. The pink-haired terror tosses a quick “love you” at his retreating back before delving beautifully back into her lecture on mirelurk care, not missing a beat in the flow of her rant.

With a pleased hum, she lets her gaze drift around until she hones in on the couch in the living room. Hancock is laid out, half-draped over MacCready, eyes closed. He’s enjoying a nice jet trip if the inhaler on the table is any indication. One of his hands dangles off the couch, resting gently atop one of the boys’ heads. When she squints, she realizes it’s Duncan. The toddler dozes away, nestled up beside Sean; the pair are reclined in a pile of soft blankets. Sean is reading a Massachusetts Medical Journal, eyes trailing back and forth eagerly. He’s leaning back into the couch, one elbow propped up on Cheese. The mutant hound looks some place between awake and asleep.  
Nora’s enchanted by the peace of it all.

With all her friend’s occupying such close quarters, moments like this are few and far between. Normally Cait and Strong would’ve gotten into some kind of row by now. Curie, bless her synthetic heart, does her best to reel in her wife’s snap temper, but it’s an acknowledged truth that the pair of fighters will never exist without some kind of friction. Nick and James, inseparable in spite of their rocky connection in the past, are partners in arms when entertaining the kids, be it one at a time or when all any of the four are romping about. Occasionally the detective even allows James to upgrade where he can. Piper would be harassing Deacon and Rads for information; Nat would be leading Sean into trouble in the name of journalism. Both Wright sisters would’ve had MacCready in absolute fits by now.

Instead, life has settled in the past few days.

The sisters are in Diamond City, running another piece on Minutemen activity in the ‘Wealth. Their near constant tabs on the renegades, mostly thanks to the combined efforts of the Railroad and the General’s Gallants, has been monumentally helpful in keeping innocent settlers out of the war path. Nora is hard pressed to think of a more impressive way of getting out secret messages than the ingenious “misprint” strategy Piper had implemented.

Cait had gone to visit Tony, with Curie tagging along despite the redhead’s objections. They’d made plans to visit Vault 81 afterwards. If Nora’s math is right, the couple should be well on their way to Curie’s old home. After all, wandering the wastelands as often as she had, the survivor had definitely developed a knack for estimating travel times. It helps that Cait is too stubborn to rest more than four hours...as Nora knows from experience. Good thing Curie doesn’t really need to rest.

Nick had been called in for a case nearly two weeks ago. No one’s heard from him. Nora’s been itching to go looking for him herself, but Ellie had already scolded her for being restless. Something about the old synth having been gone longer in the past and being perfectly fine. Nora had been suitably chastised, via a recording on an eyebot of all things, and Rads had nearly laughed herself sick at the dinner table when the message had-quite literally-blasted in through the window. Poor James had looked ready to cry when the ‘bot was taken down by Cheese’s enormous jaws.

Of course, restless with the quiet beachside living, Strong had left for the Sea. He’d grumbled for nearly a whole day about needing a good fight beforehand. Nora’s almost entirely sure he misses the feeling of it, missed talking with Virgil. She wonders if maybe…maybe Strong was curious about the cure. Or even curious about the scientist himself, perhaps?

Regardless, with no news from the Railroad, Nora and Deacon are left adrift. No trouble with Goodneighbor leaves Hancock free to actually relax, and MacCready free of having to travel without Duncan. There’s no Brotherhood patrols to worry about anymore, no Institute lurking in the shadows, no Minutemen or raiders this far north. 

She’s glad for the downtime.

“Hey...Mom?”

Nora blinks, breaking free of thought to focus on Sean. He looks so nervous. So vulnerable. Her eyes soften, same as the grin that curls her lips.

“Yes, baby?”

“I’m, um, I’m glad you’re happy.”

A moment. Quiet, not uncomfortable but not quite tranquil as she’d been, and thoughts whirl like a top. Happy. She is, isn’t she? Sitting on a rickety chair at a wobbly old table, grease coating her hands and arms and more than likely her face as well, Nora is _happy_. There’s no throbbing need to hurt, to bite back at the world that had already taken so much of her. No needle-legged spiders of panic and that antagonistic calm before the storm to prick beneath her nerves. Just a golden warmth that she dares to call love.

A love for her lost Shaun, her son who’d been lost before he could ever be himself, and a thankfulness that he’s finally at peace. No more sickness, no more twisted designs in the background. Maybe even reunited with Nate, a love faded but never truly gone.

A love for Sean, the soft spoken synth child who looked at her like she held every star under her skin and listened to her every word as though missing one would leave him lost forever. She’d been so terrible to him that first meeting. Confused and furious and disgusted. But she’s never been so grateful to have been given a second chance. To have a beautiful baby boy with a gentle soul that she could show the world.

A love for John and Robert. For nervous giggles, gun oil stains on crooked fingers, and the tender scrape of a beard on the curve of her shoulder. For glittering eyes, a rough voice crooning in her ear, and rougher hands holding hers when the past is too much to be held back. For kisses, sickly sweet from Mentats and mutfruit. For dances, slow in the kitchen with Magnolia on the radio; uncontrollable jerks and jumps and sways to pre-war music as the boys cheer after them. For nights both hot and cold, steamy and soft. For dreams reborn in a father’s proud laugh, in a mayor’s wicked grin. For a future that seems so much brighter than the flash that had ended one life and the neon lights that had greeted another.

A love for her people. Rads, James.

A love for herself. Survivor of so much madness. Woman out of time, phoenix arisen. Vaultie and Slugger and General and Overboss and Paladin and Wanderer and Mother. She’s struggled through so much and found herself stronger for it all, even if she has days that not all the wonderglue in the world could keep her in one piece. How can she not love the woman who’s got a core solid enough to withstand a nuke and all the chaos that it brought along for the ride? What reason does she have to not love the mother who fought against every curveball life threw and found herself a happy ending?

Yes.

Nora is happy.

“Me too,”she hums, standing to join her family in the living room.


End file.
